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Google App Engine vs Pantheon comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 15, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Google App Engine
Ranking in PaaS Clouds
7th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
36
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Pantheon
Ranking in PaaS Clouds
18th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
Web Hosting Services (10th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the PaaS Clouds category, the mindshare of Google App Engine is 2.1%, down from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Pantheon is 0.7%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
PaaS Clouds
 

Featured Reviews

Chandra Shekar Reddy Arrabolu - PeerSpot reviewer
Effortless server management and automatic scaling boost productivity
The error logging system in Google App Engine could be enhanced. While there are troubleshooting documents with Google-defined error logs, identifying the exact root cause can be challenging. Often, issues must be escalated through support to product engineering teams who access internal logs for resolution. Increasing the visibility of logging would help users identify issues more easily. Regarding runtimes, the validity period limitations can be problematic. When companies use legacy applications, migrating to new versions requires significant code changes and isn't always a simple lift-and-shift operation. Google App Engine should consider continuing to provide security patches for legacy applications, especially for customers with substantial billing. The manual scaling feature needs improvement, as it isn't available for all runtimes. Adding this capability across all runtimes would be beneficial for controlling instance scaling within specific parameters.
Abhinand Gokhala K - PeerSpot reviewer
The product is user-friendly and performs well, but it is very costly compared to other tools
We are a software development company. We recommend solutions to our clients, but they ask us to compare it with other solutions. Clients compare the monthly costs of Pantheon with other servers and ask us to create the same environment in dedicated servers. If Pantheon reduces its cost, we can confidently suggest it to clients. Overall, I rate the tool a seven out of ten.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"I've found that all of the features are valuable, especially the shared drive and the ability for multiple people to use their documents at the same time."
"It is simple to use. It is much simpler than AWS. It is also very powerful."
"What I appreciate most about Google App Engine is that the deployment is significantly easier compared to a conventional Linux platform."
"The auto-scaling feature helped us significantly in our fast-paced environment where the number of users was increasing rapidly."
"The most valuable features of Google App Engine include the ease of rolling back deployments when failures occur, the ability to track deployment times, and the feature to split traffic between different instances."
"What I find most valuable about Google App Engine is its support for open-source development."
"The product's setup and deployment phases are easy."
"The functions and features of Google App Engine that I have found most valuable are that it is serverless, and the learning curve is easy to follow."
"The product allows users to create multiple development environments."
"Pantheon has the most valuable workflow model."
 

Cons

"There needs to be more directions in terms of how to use the solution."
"I am limited to sending a photo to five people. I want to be able to send a photo to many people, not just five."
"Data consumption of the device could be improved."
"The only concern is that there is a number of the offerings which are built on their own proprietary technologies. With some of the offerings in Google Cloud, it's difficult to have a path to migrate to other cloud providers."
"The areas of Google App Engine that I would to improve or enhance include its allowance for complete end-to-end deployment and scalability; however, it is manageable only for a few languages."
"I would like a simpler deployment tool on laptops. It is a bit complicated at the moment. We know how to do it, but it could be easier to deploy it on laptops."
"Some features of runtime don't work well in App Engine."
"I think there's still a lot that can be done with Google Meet and the video conferencing part of it. It could be more dynamic in terms of what can be done with it."
"The Multidev environment is very costly compared to other tools like AWS and GCP."
"Pantheon has the most valuable workflow model."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"If we don't know how to work with the tool, we might have some spikes in price."
"We pay the license yearly. It's about $6 a month, which is $72 a year per person, so it's about $500."
"I would like to have more free application with it. Some of the applications, I am paying more for them. I think that they must be free."
"The platform has reasonable pricing compared to other systems."
report
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Comparison Review

it_user8586 - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 14, 2013
Amazon vs Rackspace vs Microsoft vs Google: Cloud Hosting Services Comparison
Amazon Web Services, Rackspace OpenStack, Microsoft Windows Azure and Google are the major cloud hosting and storage service providers. Athough Amazon is top of them and is oldest in cloud market, Rackspace, Microsoft and Google are giving tough competition to each other and to Amazon also for…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Educational Organization
12%
Financial Services Firm
8%
University
8%
Computer Software Company
11%
Educational Organization
10%
University
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Google App Engine?
The product's setup and deployment phases are easy.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google App Engine?
I haven't been involved on the pricing side, so I'm not exactly aware of the costs, although we did analyze log retention costs, but overall, I'm not sure how Google App Engine compares to other pr...
What needs improvement with Google App Engine?
I have not yet used the real-time logging feature.
What do you like most about Pantheon?
Pantheon has the most valuable workflow model.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Pantheon?
The platform has reasonable pricing compared to other systems.
What needs improvement with Pantheon?
Pantheon's design is not familiar to use. It could be more user-friendly.
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Khan Academy, Best Buy, Gigya, MetOffice, Getaround, Mimiboard, NewsLimited, WebFilings, and CloudLock.
Patch, Maine Today, Alley Interactice, Scranton Gillette, AdRoll, Cisco, nVidia, Boston Herald, Tableau, Dell, Kyriba, Huddle, IBM
Find out what your peers are saying about Google App Engine vs. Pantheon and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.